Tea in Thailand – Tasting at 101 Tea Plantation

The long-delayed second post about my March trip to Thailand is here, covering the tea tasting we did in Thailand. You can check out the first part complete with scenery and pictures here. The 101 Tea Plantation tasting room is perched on one of the twists along the route to Doi Mae Saelong route, and has a splendid view over the tea fields. In the distance, we could make out the small white specks of people working in the fields.

Inside, there was a spacious tea tasting room displaying many of their teawares as well as lots of space for visitors to enjoy tea.

The staff was friendly and we were fortunate enough to have them to ourselves. I asked them whether or not we could have a factory tour, but unfortunately they weren’t willing to give us a peek behind the scenes.

They served tea in these adorable little tasting cups with sniffers so you can fully enjoy the aroma.

The guide there told us that the entire region used to subsist off of growing opium. However, as the Thai government pushed out opium as a crop, they encouraged agriculture and crops like tea in its place. While the Doi Mae Saelong town is ethnically Chinese, the tea plantations reaped the benefits of this cultural heritage. Many of the tea plants there come from Taiwan, and tea plantations in Thailand produce a high quality oolong like Taiwan due to the region’s similarities in elevation and climate.

They were very generous with their tea tastings, and we were able to sample quite a few teas.

We ended the tasting by taking two of their oolongs and a jasmine green tea home with us. The prices were fairly inexpensive, and the tea was an excellent value. I’d definitely recommend a trip out there if you’re in the region and love tea.